When Priestesses March, the Earth Remembers

They did not march like mortals.

They did not shout war cries.

They moved like the will of Ginen made flesh.

When the Five Priestesses and the 99 were released from Zion's direct command, the battlefield itself bent in their wake—a force of nature unleashed.

They Moved Like Storms

Ayola – Priestess of Papa Legba

Ayola led with fire—and silence.

Every step she took opened invisible gates. Her warriors blinked through space in blurs of red light, reappearing behind Hive monsters and cleaving them in half before the beasts even turned.

Ayola's body glowed with crossroads sigils. Her hands moved like she was playing a divine instrument—controlling position, time, and fate.

The Hive that faced her never even saw their own death.

Ayomi – Priestess of Baron Samedi

Ayomi walked slowly. She did not run.

And the dead walked with her.

Her warriors were surrounded by swirling shadows, each one a memory, a soul that had not passed, or perhaps refused to. The Hive's corrupted flesh screamed and blistered in their presence.

Ayomi would smile gently and whisper to the Hive generals:

"You are not feared here. You are food."

Then her hands would raise, and Hive behemoths would fall as if their bones were pulled underground.

Sael – Priestess of Erzulie

Sael sang.

It was a haunting lullaby, one she learned in dreams, taught by the goddess herself.

Her army moved behind her, untouched. She wove a sacred light that bent Hive claws away and caused corrupted creatures to burst into ash.

When she stepped onto Hive-soaked earth, it turned green.

Vines erupted. Trees twisted upward in seconds, catching Hive spawn mid-leap and crushing them with floral vengeance.

Her voice made the Hive remember what it was to feel.

And that was their undoing.

Thalia – Priestess of the Seven-Faced Ogou

Thalia laughed like war was art.

Her warriors did not march—they danced. Blades spinning, feet light, blood flying in crescendos.

She fought with seven shifting stances, each representing a different face of Ogou: Brutality, Precision, Honor, Frenzy, Restraint, Fire, and Wind.

Each time she switched, the rhythm of the battle changed. Enemies who thought they understood her style found themselves impaled mid-thought.

She was the chaos that only strategy could fear.

Elis – Priestess of Maman Brigitte

Elis moved like judgment.

Her army advanced with silent steps, each one synchronized by heartbeat.

Hive soldiers began to slow as they approached, feeling the weight of their sins in their flesh—shoulders breaking, knees buckling.

She didn't swing her scythe often, but when she did, entire squads crumbled like glass.

The Hive began retreating from her.

They remembered death.

And death remembered them.

The 99: Hunger Given Form

Behind the priestesses came the 99, the chosen warriors of Ginen.

Each of them had seen war.

Each had borne sigils awakened by the gods themselves.

Now, they hungered.

They attacked in trios, groups of seven, sometimes even alone—carving through Hive monsters like they were already dead.

Their movements were fluid, primal.

Like wolves loosed from ancient chains.

Like prophets tasting the divine meal promised at the end of the world.

Even allied pantheons felt uneasy watching them.

There was something in their eyes—something older than obedience.

Zion's Seven Pillars – Builders Turned Shields

The Hive did not care for roles.

It did not ask if one was a warrior or scholar.

And so Zion's Seven, builders of nations, found themselves forced to fight—and none of them flinched.

Kael – The Stone Architect

Kael called to the earth.

Stones from his buildings rearranged in midair, forming crushing barriers and exploding spears of basalt.

He protected refugee columns by turning entire neighborhoods into labyrinthine traps.

When Hive creatures chased children, they found themselves trapped in dead ends sealed with fire.

Tomo – Water Engineer

Tomo cracked open aqueduct lines and sent pressurized jets of water into the enemy ranks.

But it wasn't just water.

It was blessed, infused with Sael's seeds.

Hive monsters burst apart, only for green stalks to shoot through the remains and lash at anything nearby.

Tomo stood at the center of this network, soaking, furious, and unrelenting.

Riku – Keeper of Knowledge

Riku had never held a spear.

But he held command of timing.

He used complex signaling to coordinate cross-army feints, ambushes, and diversions. His plans saved thousands in real-time.

When a Hive wave threatened to collapse the eastern flank, Riku and his hand-trained students opened rune-covered crates—knowledge weapons—and burned through the enemy with scripture-powered explosives.

Olan – The Grower

Olan carried no weapon.

He carried seeds.

When he walked, the soil trembled.

He unleashed swarms of sentient plant-life that hunted Hive drones like hungry jackals. Trees uprooted themselves and tackled siege beasts.

His entire army fought with living weapons—fruit spears, bark armor, thorn whips—and every fallen Hive body fed his arsenal.

Bren – Merchant of Paths

Bren carried a glowing ledger.

He had made deals with three minor gods, four powerful spirits, and a forgotten Lwa—all before the war began.

Now, he called in all his debts.

Suddenly, airships appeared. Magical caravans burst from hidden gates. Supply lines opened behind enemy territory, starving the Hive's reserves.

And when he lifted his curved saber, a hundred hidden warriors struck as one.

Jalen – Guardian of Peace

Jalen walked with the Golden Watch.

He carried a staff engraved with every law he'd written.

And when he struck Hive monsters with it, their bones snapped under the weight of justice.

His warriors held the line where even gods stepped back.

They used nonlethal force on anything with a soul.

But the Hive… the Hive had long since lost that grace.

To them, he offered the full judgment of a nation.

Zaire – Keeper of Memory

Zaire carried a drum and a war-mask.

He moved through the chaos, weaving morale, reminding the warriors why they fought, what they were, where they came from.

With every beat of his drum, allies regained strength.

With every chant from his lips, gods regained their will.

And when Hive forces got too close—he sang a single forbidden note passed down by the First Two.

The Hive shuddered.

The ground cracked.

And three of their commanders collapsed in shrieking madness.

They were not warriors by trade.

But in the crucible of war, each of them had become divine weapons in their own right.

And together, they stood behind Zion and his priestesses—unshaken.

The Hive came in waves.

The world burned.

But Zantrayel endured.